Before the advent of the internet, marketing consisted of a never-ending torrent of inserting orders, RFPs, consultations, invoicing, and numerous other daily duties. The hassles and difficulties of this process existed online when digital advertising debuted more than 25 years ago.

However, the globe became bigger due to digital publishing since there were more publishers, advertisers, and customers to reach. The conventional advertising method wasn’t equipped to deal with that.

The ad server, which would later serve as the foundation of internet advertising, was created almost immediately by certain forward-thinking members of the advertising business.

Ad servers now manage the significant majority of digital advertising. Let’s read on to get a more detailed view of an Ad Server and its performance!

What Is an Ad Server

What does ad server stand for?

Do you know what is an ad server? Ad servers are a type of advertising technology (Adtech) employed to organize and carry out online advertising campaigns by publishers, advertisers, ad agencies, and ad networks.

Ad servers quickly decide which advertisements to display on a website and then actually supply them. Additionally, an ad server gathers and reports data (such as impressions, clicks, etc.) so that advertisers may analyze it and track the effectiveness of their advertising.

An ad server is essential for what WordPress would be to content for ads. Ad servers are employed to manage and show online advertising materials to the appropriate user on a website, much like WordPress is applied to organize a website’s content.

What is the main role of an ad servers?

There are two main role of an Ad servers.

• First-Party Ad Servers
• Third-Party Ad Servers

However, publishers often prefer to utilize first-party ad servers, and advertisers might employ ad servers (referred to as third-party ad servers). Although first-party and third-party ad servers employ roughly the same infrastructure, publishers and advertisers use them for a little bit of a difference.

First-Party Ad Servers

First-party ad servers give publishers the ability to control ad slots on their web pages and show advertisements that have been offered to advertisers directly through direct campaigns.

First-party ad servers will function as a management solution to choose which ad codes (such as those provided by a third-party ad server, SSP, or ad network) work in their ad slots if no direct campaigns are provided.

A first-party ad server is in charge of aiming, which entails selecting which advertisements to show on a website based on complex targeting criteria, serving them, and gathering and reporting the information (such as impressions, clicks, etc.)

They are also employed to anticipate inventory, the amount and type of stock the publisher will have available to purchase in the future based on the existing campaigns and audience estimations.

Third-Party Ad Servers

Advertisers may simply follow their marketing activities by utilizing ad servers. The first-party ad server loads an advertiser’s ad server ad tag; hence its usefulness is constrained in comparison to first-party servers. It primarily gathers campaign information and confirms specific metrics, including views and clicks.

The advertiser may choose to alter the content used in a campaign or conduct several A/B tests on creativity; nevertheless, the first-party ad server handles the targeting. Third-party ad servers may also be utilized for some inventive refinements.

The main distinction is that advertisers use a third-party ad server to compile all campaign data (reporting, audience) from all publishers, ad networks, and other channels the campaign hosts. This server also acts as an internal audit tool to determine if the impressions have been delivered effectively as intended.

Publishers and advertisers can claim different statistics for various reasons, but some degree of disparity is deemed normal. Additionally, third-party ad servers provide marketers control and ownership of the data gathered.

How Does Ad Server Work

Now that you’re aware of an Ad server, it’s time to learn how it works for publishers and advertisers. The following are the three steps that take place in the operation of Ad servers.

Requesting the Publisher Ad Tag

The ad tag inside the ad unit requests the ad server whenever a user visits the publisher’s website for the first time. Depending on the kinds of deals the publisher is advertising, the ad server decides whether to communicate the information about the ad unit with the demand side after receiving the request.

Picking an Advertising Creative

After receiving a request from the ad tag, the ad server chooses the kind of ad units offered. If this ad unit is of the auction variety, an ad request will be prepared and sent to the demand side for bids. After obtaining the bids, the ad server assesses them and selects the winning bid.

Calling the Advertiser Ad Creatives

The approved ad creative is sent to the publisher’s ad server by the advertiser’s ad server after the highest bid is chosen. The successful creative is subsequently added by the publisher’s server to the appropriate ad unit on the webpage so that users can view the advertisement.

What Is The Difference Between An Ad Server And A DSP?

Most users often get confused between Ad Servers and DSPs. So, to help you out, we are distinguishing the primary differences between an Ad Server and DSPs.

Ad Servers	DSP – Demand-Side Platform
More than 100 targeting factors for accurate user segmentation.	Easy to use interface, swift account creation.
Complete control over ad serving: You have absolute control over when, where, and how your adverts are shown.	The technology connects you with potential audiences, so you don’t need to be connected to supply partners.
Reduced ad fraud because you get to pick your desired traffic sources.	No training is needed due to automated advertising purchase and campaign optimization.
Easy access to wealthy publishers.	Highly cost-effective.
Comprehensive customization and fine-tuning of an advertising campaign.	For improved performance, it is connectable to DMPs as well as other data sources.
Best for advertisers who already directly have a good working relationship with their supply partners.	With real-time reporting and analysis, there is a mere one-second lag between changes.
All pricing structures are offered.	The human element is absent.

Conclusion

After going through all the above information regarding what an ad server is and how it can work effectively in your advertising activities. One thing we would like to add is the difficulty with ad servers that most publishers face on their technological devices.

They constantly evolve and shift. Additionally, even if they provide publishers and agencies with many solutions, managing them takes a lot of effort. Effective ad server management is the secret to increasing revenue yield on ad inventory and ad campaigns.

And for that, one of the ways is connecting to Increase Rev. We at IR increase revenue for publishers and advertisers by controlling ad servers. You can let us handle every step in place of managing your entire ad operations staff, selecting ad servers, maintaining direct deals, and looking up data for reports. Therefore, concentrate on what you’re good at while we focus on growing your ad revenue.